From diabetes to fertility: 6 things to know about Apple's plans for its watch

Apple is planning to expand its health features on its Apple Watch, including a thermometer that helps users with fertility planning and a tool that alerts users when their blood pressure is increasing, according to a Sept. 1 report by The Wall Street Journal

Six things to know: 

  1. The watch's fertility features could be available in 2022. The tech company also wants the watch to eventually detect sleep apnea, spot diabetes and provide medical guidance when low blood oxygen levels are detected.

  2. By 2022, Apple expects the watch to be able to take a user's temperature, which requires a new sensor to be added to the watch. Apple is planning to use the tool to help with fertility planning by detecting when women are in their ovulation cycle. It is also hoping the tool will be able to detect fevers.

  3. The company is studying noninvasive ways to detect blood glucose levels and researching using the watch as a cuffless blood-pressure monitor. However, this work is still in the early stages of development.

  4. The tech company is studying if it can use the watch's blood-oxygen sensor to detect sleep apnea. One challenge is figuring out how to use the watch for overnight readings without draining the battery.

  5. Upgrades to the watch include improvement in irregular heartbeat monitoring and how the watch tracks sleep patterns, according to the report.

  6. The company will release the seventh version of the Apple Watch in the next few weeks, but many of its health-related upgrades will not launch until 2022. People familiar with Apple's ambitious watch plans said that some of the features in the works may never be rolled out or could be rolled out in later years, according to the report.

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